ROURKELA: Exposing the shoddy works carried out hurriedly before the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup earlier this year, the gigantic statue of a hockey player installed at the road junction between Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium and Rourkela airport collapsed after a brief spell of Nor’wester on Sunday afternoon.
The statue was installed as part of the beautification drive just before the mega sporting event in January this year. Its collapse is being blamed on poor quality work as the structure could not withstand a mild thunderstorm that lasted for around 10 minutes.
Facing widespread criticism on social media over the incident, the Rourkela city administration was quick to hint at a sabotage angle to save itself from embarrassment. It also formed an independent committee to find out the exact reason behind the statue collapse.
Commissioner of Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) Subhankar Mohapatra said an independent fact-finding committee comprising the sub-collector of Panposh and superintending engineer of the Roads and Buildings Division would visit the site on Tuesday to ascertain the exact cause of the incident. Appropriate action would be taken after the committee submits its report.
“As per preliminary report, it appears that the statute caved in due to the Nor’wester. The committee would inquire into all the reasons including structural defects and sabotage. The sabotage angle cannot be ruled out as some evidence has been found in this regard after preliminary investigation,” said Mohanty who is also the chief executive officer of Rourkela Smart City Ltd.
Earlier, a large portion of the perimeter wall of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose fitness park in front of the RMC office had collapsed following heavy rain for around 90 minutes on August 27, 2021. Sub-standard work was blamed for the incident.